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- Nov 12, 2012
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Hi everyone! I'll just warn you, this will probably be a bit lengthy, but I don't know what's important and what isn't.
Okay, so when I was about 13/14, I got a "free" cat. She's beautiful and her name is Angel. We got a brother of hers, because my younger brother was jealous. His cat's name is Black Jack. At that time, we had a German Shepherd, Blaze, as well. A few years went by, and I adopted another cat, Midnight, from a shelter. All of these cats were kittens when we got them, if that's important. They were all trained with the litter box and all that. Angel and Black Jack are sweethearts, but Midnight and my mom didn't get along the second we brought her home...
When I was 18, we moved to a new house. In that new house, we had the three cats and one dog still. To my surprise, I found an orange kitten, Aries [God of War], in our garage. He was scared to death of our dog, though she was sweet, so I don't know if he has a complex from that or not. Anyway, we called around everywhere trying to find his owner, but he ended up becoming mine and that is where the story of behavior issues starts...
Black Jack is obviously the dominant one. We had all our cats front declawed, FYI. Anytime Aries wanted to be the alpha, Black Jack put him in his place. Aries tried beating on Midnight and Angel, but Black Jack was always there to stick up for them. Blaze was funny, too, and would try to play with Aries, though it turns out he's a weiner and doesn't like when he is losing.
Blaze died when I was 19/20. My mom waited until 3 years ago to adopt a little cocker spaniel puppy named Daisy.
When I turned 21, I moved out for the first time. I took my 3 cats, Angel, Midnight and Aries, with me. Now, I work 3 days a week for 16 hours a day. It's a nice social schedule, but obviously not an ideal caring schedule. My oldest cat, Angel, got so skinny and was losing fur because Aries and Midnight would gang up on her and beat her up. Aries would also beat up Midnight, but not as bad as he would Angel. I moved back home after 6 months for safety reasons, and the cat behavior problems were semi-solved by Black Jack sticking to his dominant role around Aries and Midnight. I should also mention that Midnight started pooping outside the litter box at this point, in the apartment and when we all moved back home.
I stayed home for a few months, and moved out again, this time with just Midnight and Aries, because my mom and I couldn't handle knowing that Angel was better at home with her brother. It still breaks my heart not to have her, but I know it's best. Well, this new place had a porch for the cats but was also small. Aries kind of tortured Midnight whenever he decided she shouldn't be laying in a spot or whatever. She pooped outside the box, and I'm sure a lot of it was due to the bullying, and Aries, not Midnight, would try to cover it up. I lived there for a little over a year, and got engaged.
Now I'm 23 and my fiance and I have moved into a 2 story duplex with plenty of room for Midnight and Aries to run and play, but Midnight is still pooping outside the litter box and Aries will still, though not as often, beat her up. She's not entirely innocent, but I know there are times they are just playing, and I don't know what to do!
They have bouncy balls to knock around, dead leaves and milk jug rings to play with (because they're jerks and like the free toys versus the ones I pay for!) but I don't know what else to do about it all! I think Aries would be better in a 1 cat household, but I don't want to get rid of him. I love him and Midnight, and I want them both to be happy and healthy kitties.
Anyway, my questions are:
-What kind of toys are good distractions for cats with no front claws?
-Do you think cat nip toys would enhance the bad behavior in Aries?
-What can I do about Midnight pooping outside the litter box?
**Other information:
-There are two litter boxes filled and both are being used. It seems one is mainly for pee and the other is for poo and some pee.
-It is not an option to send one back home to live with the other 2 cats and Daisy. My mom is not a cat person and she doesn't have the patience to deal with either of these two...
-My fiance is a CNA who works 5-6 days a week. His shift is 3pm-11pm.
-My job hours are away from home from 3pm-7am for 3 days a week. The other 4 days I'm home either cleaning or relaxing... Not much.
Thanks!
Okay, so when I was about 13/14, I got a "free" cat. She's beautiful and her name is Angel. We got a brother of hers, because my younger brother was jealous. His cat's name is Black Jack. At that time, we had a German Shepherd, Blaze, as well. A few years went by, and I adopted another cat, Midnight, from a shelter. All of these cats were kittens when we got them, if that's important. They were all trained with the litter box and all that. Angel and Black Jack are sweethearts, but Midnight and my mom didn't get along the second we brought her home...
When I was 18, we moved to a new house. In that new house, we had the three cats and one dog still. To my surprise, I found an orange kitten, Aries [God of War], in our garage. He was scared to death of our dog, though she was sweet, so I don't know if he has a complex from that or not. Anyway, we called around everywhere trying to find his owner, but he ended up becoming mine and that is where the story of behavior issues starts...
Black Jack is obviously the dominant one. We had all our cats front declawed, FYI. Anytime Aries wanted to be the alpha, Black Jack put him in his place. Aries tried beating on Midnight and Angel, but Black Jack was always there to stick up for them. Blaze was funny, too, and would try to play with Aries, though it turns out he's a weiner and doesn't like when he is losing.
Blaze died when I was 19/20. My mom waited until 3 years ago to adopt a little cocker spaniel puppy named Daisy.
When I turned 21, I moved out for the first time. I took my 3 cats, Angel, Midnight and Aries, with me. Now, I work 3 days a week for 16 hours a day. It's a nice social schedule, but obviously not an ideal caring schedule. My oldest cat, Angel, got so skinny and was losing fur because Aries and Midnight would gang up on her and beat her up. Aries would also beat up Midnight, but not as bad as he would Angel. I moved back home after 6 months for safety reasons, and the cat behavior problems were semi-solved by Black Jack sticking to his dominant role around Aries and Midnight. I should also mention that Midnight started pooping outside the litter box at this point, in the apartment and when we all moved back home.
I stayed home for a few months, and moved out again, this time with just Midnight and Aries, because my mom and I couldn't handle knowing that Angel was better at home with her brother. It still breaks my heart not to have her, but I know it's best. Well, this new place had a porch for the cats but was also small. Aries kind of tortured Midnight whenever he decided she shouldn't be laying in a spot or whatever. She pooped outside the box, and I'm sure a lot of it was due to the bullying, and Aries, not Midnight, would try to cover it up. I lived there for a little over a year, and got engaged.
Now I'm 23 and my fiance and I have moved into a 2 story duplex with plenty of room for Midnight and Aries to run and play, but Midnight is still pooping outside the litter box and Aries will still, though not as often, beat her up. She's not entirely innocent, but I know there are times they are just playing, and I don't know what to do!
They have bouncy balls to knock around, dead leaves and milk jug rings to play with (because they're jerks and like the free toys versus the ones I pay for!) but I don't know what else to do about it all! I think Aries would be better in a 1 cat household, but I don't want to get rid of him. I love him and Midnight, and I want them both to be happy and healthy kitties.
Anyway, my questions are:
-What kind of toys are good distractions for cats with no front claws?
-Do you think cat nip toys would enhance the bad behavior in Aries?
-What can I do about Midnight pooping outside the litter box?
**Other information:
-There are two litter boxes filled and both are being used. It seems one is mainly for pee and the other is for poo and some pee.
-It is not an option to send one back home to live with the other 2 cats and Daisy. My mom is not a cat person and she doesn't have the patience to deal with either of these two...
-My fiance is a CNA who works 5-6 days a week. His shift is 3pm-11pm.
-My job hours are away from home from 3pm-7am for 3 days a week. The other 4 days I'm home either cleaning or relaxing... Not much.
Thanks!
I don't have much experience with situations like these but maybe it would be a good idea to separate them permanently and then slowly reintroduce each other since you've done so much moving, they might just be stressed and taking it out on each other while trying to establish a new hierarchy in a new place. I've read that cats not covering their own business and doing it outside of the box is a way of saying, "I'm the boss, this is my territory and if you don't like it, you can cover it yourself" 
